Make Your Sunday Roast Go Further - Chicken Stock

It's still cold out there, we still have snow on the ground and more may be forecast. You may still have no money from Christmas and be looking forward to next month's paycheck. Here's a great way to save money.

Do you buy free range chicken? I try to, but the cost is very expensive. If I can use the chicken for more than one meal then it makes more economic sense. Of course you can use a normal cheap chicken for this too and it still goes further than previously.

You can roast the chicken and enjoy it for Sunday lunch. I usually buy the biggest bird I can find and that means that there are leftovers.

We use the remainder of the chicken to make stock. The bird is stripped of the meat and the carcass is put in the slow cooker with a quartered onion, a chopped carrot and a good amount of water (depending on the size of your slow cooker). Discard the skin which will add fat to your stock. You can add salt and pepper, herbs such as parsley and a bay leaf according to your taste. Slow cook for about 4-6 hours.

When you feel that the stock is ready, you can strain it and either freeze it or use it to make delicious home-made soups or even risottos. I will post some more recipes to use this stock in the coming weeks.

The supermarkets have all caught on to this idea that stock is great for healthy home cooking and sell it in packets, but it is easy to make your own and helps make that expensive food go a little further too.

Where did January go?

I can't believe it's February today! We've had a lot of snow in Worcestershire, UK today - in fact a white blanket fell last night and we woke to about an inch and a half! Daughter walked to school and DH walked to town to catch a bus. Son moaned all the way about having to wear school uniform. The joys of parenting!

We went to a family thing at the weekend and I welcomed the excuse to make my favourite cheesecake recipe - 'The Best Cheesecake Ever'. I can only make it occasionally as it's a real treat. It all went at the event, so hopefully other people agreed.

The secret is in the cream cheese - Marscapone is soft and creamy without that aftertaste that most cheesecakes have. If you are looking for a signature pudding, you can't go wrong with this one. Sorry no pics - it got eaten before I could get my camera out!

The Best Cheesecake in the World
200g/7oz Hob Nobs or Oat biscuits, crushed (take your frustrations out on them)
100g/4oz butter melted

Topping
200g/7oz Mascarpone Cheese (can sometimes find a lower fat one)
200 ml/7 fl oz whipped cream
1 tbs grated fresh ginger
3 tbs honey

To add a caramel nut crunch:
2 oz caster shugar
100g Pecans/chopped hazelnuts/other nuts of choice

Method
Melt the butter in a pan. When completely melted, add the crushed biscuits. Press into a flan dish/cake tin with removeable base. Chill in the fridge.

Whisk the cream until stiff, then add the ginger, honey and Mascarpone to it and stir together thoroughly. Add it to the biscuit base and replace in the fridge to chill.

To caramelise the nuts, heat the sugar and nuts together in a pan on the stove. Keep stirring and as the sugar heats through, it will begin to liquefy. The nuts will collect the caramelised sugar. You need to keep stirring until the nuts are all covered to avoid the sugar burning. Tip the nuts out onto a baking tray to cool. When cooled, sprinkle over the top of the cheesecake.

Enjoy.